President Obama touched on several aspects that could impact San Diego in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. They ranged from raising the minimum wage to retirement savings to immigration reform. Here is some reaction from local economists on the president's speech:

Alan Gin, economist at the University of San Diego, on $10.10 minimum wage executive order:

“I’ve been in favor of raising the minimum wage. I think it should be done, but given the political situation it’s hard for me to see that being done. Doing it for the federal contractors will help a little bit but to get the full impact you need it increased for everybody.”

“It was encouraging to see the president encourage saving. Before the financial crisis there had been many calls, including by the White House and the Federal Reserve and most government officials who believed that Americans did not save enough, and that we should consume less and save more.

“Well after financial crisis, it was, Americans still need to save more but not right now. They need to spend to keep the economy moving forward, that more consumer spending is a good thing … it is clear that we have a saving deficiency, so the MyRA is interesting. I did not see the products treasury will offer, but it seems to be very low risk treasury bonds.”

Marney Cox, chief economist at San Diego Association of Governments, on immigration reform:

“This happens to be one where the Republicans are also saying something needs to happen, so this may jump to the front and be worked on first. I think what we have here in San Diego is an opportunity to offer ways of expanding opportunities to get across the border… San Diego both buys and sells products to Mexico. Mexico is the number one trading partner for California.”

Dan Seiver, Reilly Financial Advisers and finance faculty at San Diego State University, on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal workers:

"I think that’ll be relatively minor since it’s going up anyway (in California). I think there is good economic research that shows that in some cases, paying a higher wage can bring forth a better labor force effort and reduce turnover, which is story of Costco. Their employees are more loyal and hard working and there's lower turnover, so it actually works for them."